What is assistive technology?

Assistive technology is any kind of technology and/or tool that can be used to enhance the functional independence of a person with a disability. Often, for people with disabilities, accomplishing daily tasks such as communicating with others, going to school or work, or participating in activities can be a challenge. Assistive Technology (AT) devices are tools to help overcome those challenges and enable people living with disabilities to enhance and have access to a quality of life, that may otherwise not be known, and lead more independent lives.

The mission of this blog is to serve as a voice of a constant researcher in the field of educational and assistive technologies so that the best products, strategies and services may be located easily, in hopes that they will then be delivered, taught and used to better the lives of people with disabilities.

Sunday

Audio Book Resources

There are so many benefits of using children's audio books. Audio books can improve word
recognition, the proper pronunciation of words and also develop
visualization abilities.

With new
advances in technology it is good to understand what resources are available and what devices you can use these with.

There are many
resources for children's books that can be read online or transferred to a portable on-the-go type system. Audio books are
great in the car, in the evening when children are going to bed, to support that book
report that needs to be completed for struggling readers... As The Story Home puts it, "you will find all the ways to bring stories to your active
lifestyle, allowing you and your children to access quality listening
entertainment during cross town errands, vacation trips, commutes, in
waiting rooms and that very special quiet time before sleep. Whether you
need a soothing journey, a magic moment, or a bit of wisdom, The Story is always just a click away."

Children can
actually “read” audio books online, in many cases, at no charge.
The activity helps develop listening skills and can increase comprehension and
reasoning ability, not to mention increasing site word recognition when
accompanied by the text. Think how powerful it could be if parents listen with their children. Parents can provide questioning to help their kids learn to predict what will happen next,
review the sequence of events in the plot, and examine the reasons a character
acted the way he/she did. All of these skills are valuable academic skills. Stories are accessible online through free downloads or streaming audio. Free audio downloads can be
burned to a CD and played in the car, or on personal CD players. Free MP3s can be
downloaded to iPods/iDevices to be taken anywhere. Check your local library too. More and more libraries are offering
a larger library of audio books. If your is not, let them know this is
an interest. The more they hear this request, the more they will put
their resources towards this area. If you can afford a monthly subscription, Audible.com is an awesome service. I have belonged and have thoroughly enjoyed it. You can stop for a while and then rejoin without penalty also.

It is perhaps
the best-known provider of downloadable audio books. While it's primarily a subscription
service (plans run from $157 to $229/year for 12-24 audio books) it does
offer free audio books as part of its promotions to attract new
subscribers. Audible sponsors many popular podcasts, including This
American Life and other top shows, and offers free audio books through
ads, so be alert when listening to those podcasts for free offers. Audible has a free iPhone app (Download at iTunes) that provides access to your Audible library via Wi-Fi. (Connected to Amazon.)

Here are some places to
find free audio books for kids online:

AOL Kidsoffers stories for the young that are online picture books read to the child. Words are highlighted while read.

Audible Kids is a website full of popular
books. Some are read aloud by the actor who plays Gordon on Sesame Street,
Roscoe Orman. Although many of the audio books presented by Audible Kids
cost a small free, they do offer at least nine free audio stories. They
also offer books for a low 99 cents for download.

Audio Stories for Kids is an excellent
source for no-cost audio books for youngsters. It is UK-based, similar to
Storynory, and contains over 200 kids' audio MP3 stories, all for free.
(Some of the recordings include sound effects as well.) Audio Stories
has one of the most extensive lists of free children's read along books
online. There are over 300 available titles along with games, coloring
pages, old radio recordings and other interesting resources. The
selection includes fables, classics, fairy tales and contemporary
stories.

BookBox has downloadable Flash
stories which are digitally narrated with simple animation and streaming
text across the bottom - you see whole phrases, and the letters go from
white to red as the words are spoken (called 'SLS' - same language
subtitling). The stories are international in flavor, and come in
several languages. You can preview the stories for free, so you could see
if it fits your needs. The illustrations are beautiful and the animation
simple.Though BookBox stories are primarily focused on reading skills’
development and language learning for all children, they also contain
several features that help children with special needs.

Book Pals(Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools) is a national program
administered by the nonprofit Screen Actors Guild Foundation. BookPALS
help children learn to LOVE books by bringing the talents of performer
volunteers into classrooms, hospitals, shelters, and other venues. A
perfect match!

Book Pop
is a smaller resource but has very good stories for younger readers who
like bright colors and easy to read words. This is not the site to find
well-known authors or classic tales.

Books Should be Free offers Free Public
Domain Audiobooks and eBooks.
It's easy to find a free audio book you want to
download at Books Should Be Free. You can view the audio books by the
categories Top 100, Children, Fiction, Fantasy, and Mystery as well as
more than a dozen other genres.Download books for iPhone, Android, Kindle and mp3 players. Be sure to check out their horror and ghost stories! It's so easy to find an audio book here thanks to
the categories and large photos that I had to include in the list.

Candlelight Stories is an independent web
site aimed at adults but older teens might appreciate this too. Subjects
include literature, film, games, art, poetry, children's stories, free
expression, politics, and audio. It can get hugely opinionated but it sure
has fun doing it. Use your judgment and enjoy.

Eduscapes is an awesome site that links to a variety of reading materials, including chapter books, interactive stories, and more. There are designated books for several ages as well.

International Children’s Digital Library,
"A library for the world's children," this site contains over 4,000
books in 61 languages. So cool. Though there aren't many hard copies I
could link to, perhaps some families have the books at home or would
just like hearing books read in a foreign language.

Just Books Read Aloud books can be chosen by length, author, narrator, or category. It can be added to the iPad. There are no advertisements or other revenue generating opportunities on the site. It is compatible with the JAWS screen
reader. This is a very rich site.

KidsAudioBooks has over 200 audio
stories in MP3 format for you to download.

Kids Learn Out Loudfeatures free podcasts
and audio and video resources for kids and teens to learn
from. Most audio titles can be downloaded in digital formats such as MP3
and most video titles are available to stream online.The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, is included in this free collection, as are Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell; Robinson Crusoe,
by Daniel DeFoe; and many others. Speeches, presidential addresses,
podcasts, and more are included on this packed, resource-rich site.

Learn Out Loud has a collection of over 2500 free audio books and other
educational audio and video files. Learn Out Loud's collection includes
readings of famous literature as well as audio and video files of famous
speeches and news reports. The collection is sorted into sixteen
categories which can then be sorted alphabetically or by popularity.Learn Out Loud is a gigantic collection of free audio books, lectures, and educational podcasts.
Here, you can find all sorts of interesting content divided into
categories as diverse as Arts and Entertainment, Business, Sports, or
Travel. You can also filter your search results by Audio Download,
Online Audio, Most Popular, Alphabetical, Author Name, Average Member
Rating, or Featured.

LibriVoxhas a huge selection of free audio books that are recordings of
volunteers who have read chapters from books that are in the public
domain. You can find a free audio book by searching by title,
author, or status. You can also browse all the titles in the catalog or
view only the most recent audio books. The free audio books can be downloaded directly from LibriVox or you can subscribe to them as podcasts.

Listen and Read for early learners has 54 nonfiction read-along books.
Listen and Read activities tell the story through words, images, and
sound. You can use these online activities in a variety of ways, from
one-on-one instruction using a computer or tablet to class instruction
on an interactive whiteboard.

Light up your brain has a small selection of approximately 20 audio books and interesting
games for children to download. This site provides a text section of the
story and an available audio to play in the background.The stories on
this site include classics such as The Velveteen Rabbit, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes and Cinderella.

Lit 2 Go offers a large
selection of fiction stories and poems available as free downloads. The total appears be at least
200 titles. The collection can be searched by author or title.

LoudLit.orgis a good place to find free audio recordings of famous works of literature. What makes LoudLit unique and useful for teachers is the option of reading the text online while listening to the reading of the text.

MightyBook offers beautifully illustrated, Flash animated, with words highlight as they’re
spoken or sung to make it easier for kids to follow along.

Mother Goose Clubhas a number of rhymes and songs that provide audio support for the text.

National Geographic Kids provides 37 non-fiction magazines for kids with audio available that will read the words to your students.

New Fiction has unique and fictional audio books
that they term "iSoaps." You won't find these audio books any where else
and they are wonderful if you are looking for something new and a
little bit different. You'll need to sign up for an account,
which is free, and then subscribe to their podcast where you'll get a
new installment of a book delivered to you each day.

Online Audio Stories presents "Great Short Stories Online. Welcome to the magical kingdom of fairy tales, classic books for children and kids’ poems."

Open Culture provides hundreds of free audio books, mostly classics, to your
MP3 player or computer. You’ll find great works of fiction,
non-fiction and poetry. This would be best used with older students and adults. The contents of the collection is quite impressive as it includes works
by, among others, Austen, Dickens, Melville, Poe, Voltaire, and
Rousseau. All of the audio books can be played on your computer or mp3
player.Open Culture is a portal to the finest educational and cultural
resources on the Web. They've got a very respectable collection of great
audio books, mostly classics, available for free in a variety of
downloadable formats from all over the Web. Books are organized
alphabetically by author's last name by genre: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and
Poetry.

OverDrive If
your local library has a subscription to OverDrive (and ours does!) then this is a great
place to find free audio books of recent fiction and non-fiction books
including best-sellers. You'll check out these audio books just like you would a library book and they'll be returned at the end of the loan period (usually 2 weeks). Besides free audio books, OverDrive also has free ebooks, movies, and music. (You can often sign up for libraries in other areas also instead of only your local library. Some areas offer more than others.)

Oxford Owlis
a collection of free children’s ebooks for kids ages 3-11.
Each ebook has accompanying audio so that students can choose to read
along, or read independently. The books also have activities that focus
on reading comprehension and story recall. There are several options
for filtering the ebooks so that students can find just the right story
including by age, by book type, and by series. In addition to the
ebooks on the site, you can find fun activities and recommendations for
each age group, games to print and play, and online games with
characters from the books and site.

Podiobooks has over 70,000 free audio books over every subject you can think of and includes audio books for adults and kids.You can download the free audio books directly from the website or receive them like podcasts from an RSS feed. You
don't need to register to get a free audio book but if
you do, and registration is free, you'll get a custom podcast feed that
will make enjoying your book a whole lot easier.

Project Gutenberg has audio books that are human-read and also some that are computer-generated. These
are also public domain books that have been turned into audio books
that are now available for free for anyone who's interested. The easiest way to find an audio book here is to browse through the authors and titles. You can also view them by languages.

Reading Planet lets you enjoy reading and singing along to these fun, animated stories. (You need to have a plug-in called Flash installed on your computer to view the stories.)

Read Print offers an online book library with over 8,000 titles that can be read using any free text reader (tested with Natural Reader).

Read to Me offers children's storybooks read aloud by celebrities and storytellers. This
online reading program to develop literacy in children is fun! Watch
books and download lesson plans for learning.

RIF Reading Planet provides read along stories and songs for young children in Flash format.

Rong-Chang suggests easy readers for Adult ESL Beginners (also great
for older children). 200 free stories. These stories come with audio if
you want to listen and read along. It does not highlight the words.

Smories is a video site featuring kids reading kids' stories. Many of the videos include captions.

StoryNory has published a new audio
story every week since November 2005. Storynory is an online
treasure-trove of free audio stories. This is a large selection of fairy tales (Hans Christian Anderson, Brothers Grimm), classics (Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol), education stories (Greek myths, Bible stories), original new tales(Tim The Tadpole's Exams, Bertie's Car, Sadie's Broken Heart) and stories targeting junior readers.Every week, Storynory publishes a free audio book just for kids. The
audio books here include original stories, fairy tales, classic stories,
educational books, and some small stories for the very little ones. The audio books here can be downloaded or streamed directly from the website.

Stone
Soup offers a place for your students to publish their stories
and read them and/or a place to listen to stories read by other students.

Story Home provides original and classic children’s audio
stories, to delight and inspire children and their families.

StoryLineOnline includes full visuals of each page. The books change often so be
sure to revisit this site and enjoy all that it has to offer. The stories are read by Screen Actors Guild members using flash movies
to display the books as they are read. There are also fun activities and
lesson ideas to go along with each book.

Tar Heel Reader is a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide
range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using
multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with
custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches.You may write your own books using pictures from the huge collection at Flickr
or pictures you upload. You may also use Tar Heel Readers books into iBooks with speech support.

The Talking Book Store is not free but if you want very rich books, very quickly, this is the place to go. Memberships are available so you can get a book every month.

Voice of Americaoffers news stories that you can listen
to and read along with. An awesome resource for the adult or older
student who is learning to master reading.

We Give Books
- Introducing books available for you to read for free, anytime, anywhere,
and on any device! Many of you have asked to read on your iPad, iPhone, or
mobile device. Now you can. Just choose the Editor’s Picks collection from our and start
reading. All books in the Editor’s Picks collection are free for anyone to
read without signing in on We Give Books.

Adapted Literature available through the Sherlock Center Resource Library. These resources are provided for teachers to help
students with severe disabilities participate in the general curriculum.

Apps

Most of these sites offers public domain audio books (meaning books whose
authors have been dead for, in most cases, at least 75 years). Most of
its titles are drawn from Project Gutenberg and LibriVox.

Books Should Be Free site offers public domain
audio books (meaning books whose authors have been dead for, in most
cases, at least 75 years). Most of its titles are drawn from Project
Gutenberg and LibriVox. The audio books here, as the site's name
indicates, are completely free and can be downloaded either as a podcast
or as an MP3. Titles are offered in multiple languages.

eMusic (free trial) is
subscription-based music store has added audio book downloads in recent
years. In order to get them, you must also subscribe to its music
service--which runs from $6.50/month to $133.99/year. Audio book plans
run $9.99-$18.99/month and come with 1 free audio book. You can sign up for a trial eMusic subscription and keep your downloads and free book if you cancel your membership before the 14-day trial expires.The audio book selection is robust and includes the latest big-name titles and authors as well as less-well-known works.

Free Audiobooks - 4,728 Classics Audiobook Library For Less Than A Cup Of Coffee. By Digital Press Publishing

Podiobooks is one of
the few sites that offers truly free audio books by modern authors.
While you won't find the major names here, Podiobooks is packed full of
free audio books by authors in more than two dozen genres (including
public domain classics). The books are supported by listener donations,
with 75% of donations going to authors. Options including listening on
the site, downloading MP3s, or subscribing via podcast to each new
chapter as it is released.

The Story Homeapp comes with 3 stories and gives users the opportunity to own (meaning buy)
over 90 of The Story Home’s acclaimed children’s audio stories. (Read how it works.)

Tales2Gogives educators and parents instant and unlimited access to
thousands of name-brand audiobooks and stories from leading publishers
and storytellers to play on iDevices in classrooms and
beyond, all for one low annual price.

MP3 players have the
capacity to play audio books. Most families have MP3 technology in their home
and young children are frequently able to use the devices. The MP3 platform
offers the quickest access to recorded books.

They can be
downloaded from the internet to your player. MP3 ready audio books may also be
purchased in traditional stores and borrowed from the library.

Many accessories
are available to make the listening process even easier, adding to the benefits
of audio books for children. Headphones attach to all three types of players
and lessen distractions while the child is listening to the recording. Battery
power is also an option for all three kinds of devices. Battery power makes the
player portable so children can listen anytime and anywhere. Most importantly
the equipment is affordable.

In many cases you probably already own appropriate equipment to get started.
The benefits of children’s audio books, especially the role they play in
creating reading independence, are infinite. Through advances in technology
audio books are now available to many families. The equipment is easy for young
children to use and there are many books available in audio form. Adding audio
books to your home library has the potential to greatly improve your child’s
reading ability.

Don't forget to make your own audio books for your kids. When they go off to camp or to a friend's house for an over nighter, no one needs to know that they are actually being comforted by hearing you read to them. All they have to do it plug in their headset and Viola! (See the Podcasting post for more information on making your own podcast - aka audio books.) Resources:

Assistive Technology

Follow by Email

Subscribe To

About Me

Glenda Hampton Anderson brings the experience of working with students with special needs for over 30 years. Having a credential in elementary education, specializing in physical disabilities and learning disabilities has provided a wide range of experiences leading to diverse skill sets in public education settings.
After 17 years in the classroom Glenda changed her focus to assistive technology in 1997 when she found it to offer a nice blend of her experiences and interests. Glenda provides assistive technology services for the Butte County Office of Education SELPA.
Seeing a need in the surrounding county offices of education and with adults throughout Butte County, Glenda branched out, starting a private business, Enabling Solutions Opening Doors, so that she may assist clients as a consultant.
Glenda continues to be active in providing support for the assistive technology program in the Special Education Credential Programs and the Communication Sciences and Disorders Augmentative and Alternative Communication at California State University in Chico, realizing that her first true love is teaching.